Erik Hoagland, Lindsay Martin, Mike Barrett, Dennis Hocker, Patti Shannon and Oliver Edwards (point-of-contact) attended the Aqua Tutus September club dive held at San Carlos beach. We parked at the upper right parking lot; When several of us arrived about 8:15 we found the lower left lot closed for the rescue / emergency response event that day. The event did provide us with some entertainment - a Coast guard rescue helicopter landed in the nearby grass area (next to the picnic tables) about 9am.
Erik and Lindsay attended wanting to practice some diving skills - specifically: setting buoyancy, alternate air breathing, and a alternate air ascent. Dennis and Oliver led a discussion of the theoretical and practical aspects of the skills. For instance - what are the signs of correct weighting, what are the hand signals to use and how, exactly, does the donor pass and the recipient hold the alternate air source? Sorry - not going to describe that here - you should have attended the dive! :) More seriously if you've questions about dive skills you can always contact one of our instructors or even ask another of our experienced divers.
Erik, Lindsay, Mike and Oliver entered the water together, then Erik and Lindsay checked their tank-full buoyancy close to shore. Both decided to leave some weight with our shore support team (Dennis). We then swam out to about 30 ' depth, descended, and practiced sharing air. Oliver and Erik then executed an uneventful, very nicely controlled (e.g. slow), ascent while sharing air. We descended again, then went for a "fun" dive along the breakwater, eventually swimming beyond the end of the rock breakwater while underwater, meeting some playful sea lions along the way. On the way back, as Erik and eventually Lindsay reached 500 lbs, they ascended to safety stop depth and again checked buoyancy. I believe at least one of them (maybe both) found they were still over weight and shed some more lead between dives. Once we were able to stand up in shallow water, Lindsay purged her tank down to 200 lbs, 100 lbs, then (indicated) empty, testing how the regulator breathed at each pressure. If i recall correctly, no change at 200 lbs, a bit stiff at 100 lbs, definatively stiff at 0 lbs. Yes you read the right, the pressure guage was off so when it indicated empty there was still air in the tank and Lindsay could still breathe! It was an excellent demonstration of the "you are never actually OUT of air" principle.
The second dive Mike did a great job navigating us along the pipeline to the metridium rocks. Lindsay and Oliver swam from one rock to another (there are many metridium covered rocks extending parallel to the shoreline). When it was time to return, we found there was a significant current, making the swim in quite tiring. Oliver navigated, and upon surfacing, he and Lindsay found that rather being close to the breakwater (that's where Oliver's Compass said they were heading) they were in front of the hotel at the other end of the beach. A short surface swim brought them to the beach exit.
Several of the group retired to Giannis for food and libations.